Physician Betrays Patient’s Trust and Is Found Guilty of Sexual Assault

There are few times in our lives that we are more vulnerable to another person than when we trust a physician with our health issues. We tell them our most private problems and often expose both our bodies and our troubles to this licensed professional, who has taken an oath and obtained a license requiring him or her to put our health first.

In the assault case that was decided today, a well-known dermatologist, Calvin Day, Jr., was found guilty of sexual assault. In many other stories heard on the witness stand, patients and employees were sexual assaulted during examinations or after work in the bedroom Day set up at the office. The reason this is an unusual story is that physicians have trained to “first, do no harm.” Sexual assault is one of the most egregious betrayal of trust one can experience. When sexual assault is committed by a physician, the acts seem particular disturbing because we have to trust a physician in order to heal or get treatment. Abuse of that trust is one of the most unethical acts a physician can do.

We can speculate as to why a physician would betray a patient’s trust particularly when his nurses and staff knows the assault is occurring. Day took a 48-year-old female patient to a secluded room in his office complex called “the Bat Room,” which included a bed, mirrors and a stereo system. He sexually assaulted her and later threatened her to remain silent about it.

A jury of his peers will decide how many years he will spend in jail to pay for the sexual assaults and abuse of the trust given to him by patients.

The story below from MySA.com provides more information and some helpful links to information about the trial.